Glenn's Underground Cabin Update

[glenn kangiser]

One more load tomorrow may be the end of it, PEG....except for the 45 foot reefer van full of the furniture we loaded about 3 months ago......  [ouch]

Whitlock and I pulled the bed off of the Kenworth today so that I can drag it up here...I still had the fifth wheel under it from years ago..... maybe this weekend......

[PEG688]

 God , you'll need to buy more land around the complex 

Poor Sassy  what she gonna do

[glenn kangiser]

More terraces I think, PEG.  Just about have it covered though.  I flattened out about a half acre at the other place 1/4 mile away to catch the overflow.  That is where the 45 foot Reefer will go for the present at least.  It won't make the corners on my driveway without going over the side of the mountain.  [ouch]

After the final load we start figuring how to get the stuff covered than needs covered.

Actually got a couple ideas....starting with a simple earth covered pole barn.  Just a couple inches over a single ...or maybe double slope shed roof.

The three story steel structure can come later.....

[PEG688]

I think in a contest of who has the most $hit when they die , your gonna be the hands down winner !!! 

[glenn kangiser]

Crimoney, PEG.... [ouch]

Well, at least I can say I don't have it all because 4 or 5 rolls of insulation came unstrapped and hit the road when I jumped the truck and trailer off of Moon Launch Bridge.

There is a bridge on 140, that will launch you into Lunar Orbit if you don't run out in the middle of the road.... I hit it pretty good and right after that 2 straps were loosened enough to lose the insulation as I went up the hill.  Took about 1/2 mile to find a place wide enough for the truck and trailer and I jumped out to roll the rolls out of the road.  These were about 4 feet long and 3 feet in diameter, highly compressed in a plastic bag.  I shoved them over the edge for some lucky finder or until I get back to pick them up.  I really didn't need that half mile walk but didn't want anybody to crash into them.   

Not like they were likely to hurt anything but could make someone run off of the road.... 

[glenn kangiser]

Thought I might take a run down there and see what remains this morning. 

A/C was not working in the Dodge Flatbed with the Cummins though. Possibly the mechanic had to unhook the lines when taking the transmission out.  Sure is nice to be able to recharge your truck A/C with propane for about 50 cents.  (Duracool is a similar commercial replacement for refrigerant and is approved by the agencies who are payed off to say it's OK).

Oh yes... don't try this at home, kids.... I told you not to in case you think of trying it and want to hold me responsible for your irresponsible actions....

Alkanes... yes  - trick name so you don't recognize the common names such as propane and iso-butane...




Full MSDS


http://www.duracool.com/msds/msds.html


Alkanes include.....



http://www.idealcoolantsolutions.com/index.htm

Propane was the subject of a media criminalization by DuPont to get people to stop using the cheap stuff and use their R12.  The patent on the R12 expired and it was time to criminalize it for Ozone depletion then get rid of it so it could not be produced cheaply by the competition.

The small amount of propane in a refrigeration system (about 1/3 the amount of other refrigerants) has never been proven to be hazardous as it disperses or the quantity is so small it is inconsequential.  Much safer to have a 1/2 pint of propane or so in the refrigeration than to be sitting on top of 20 gallons of gasoline or diesel in a wreck. [ouch]

[glenn kangiser]

Working around here today. 

Recovered 2 rolls of insulation and met a Native American friend who had come down there to get some for a friend who needed some.  He said since it was mine he had no problem... 

I said it was just left from a job and if someone needed it to take a roll .  There was a third un-bagged roll he took and I told him if they needed more to let me know.  I don't need that much - it was just too good for the dumpster and  can find a place over the years I'm sure. 

We decided to barbecue again tonight.  It is much easier when the freezer is full of our own beef and we have the new grill.  [bbq]



Threw a bunch of fresh vegetables in there too. 

[ben2go]

Where's my plane ticket?Suppers on. 

[glenn kangiser]

Come on down, Ben.

Something of more use possibly.



Hardfacing my jackhammer bit for the Bobcat.

The plain bit wears out  pretty fast in the conditions here in the mountains. Hardfacing is a special very hard alloy possibly containing even carbide chunks in the matrix.  The type I have chosen is hard but will take hammering without so much chance of breaking.  The idea is to coat the surface with lines of the hard alloy to prevent the softer metal underneath from wearing down so fast. On a hammer application resistance to impact is important.

A negative possibility is that it could cause breaking of the tool. I think the chance of breaking it is slight enough that it is worth a try.  The bit costs a bit over $300 as I recall so doubling its life by  the periodic repair of the hardfacing is worthwhile.

[rick91351]

Ever spend a couple pleasant 110 degree days hard facing crawler tracks?   

[glenn kangiser]

Haven't spent that much time on tracks, Rick but have done some rippers.

Recently, I guess the hottest thing I have welded was out in the sun, welding up this trellis for 2 days - over 100 I think, but testing with the non-contact thermometer we have found temps at metal surfaces to get much hotter than that from the sun....Whitlock and I found an area in front of reflective glass on balconies that measured over 300 degrees where we were working....and we wondered why we felt so wimpy....



I sweated so much the uppers of my leather boots were completely wet...had to stuff them upside down on the a/c overnight to dry them out....... my tee shirt looked like a salt lick....

[glenn kangiser]

Worked on an improved entry walk and start of improvements to get up to the barbecue area and top garden terraces for Sassy today.  [bbq]

Scrounged up some chunks of treated lumber and some of the unnatural resources I brought from the other place.

Specifically, a 9 foot chunk of 2 inch pipe and some plates to make a support column for the porch roof, that I will be able to weld a hand rail to.

Spike is testing out the walk for me.




I used some Sugar Pine planks I have had sitting out by the sawmill for a while.  Each one is cut with a taper ranging from 16 to 18 inches at the wide end down to 7 to 8 inches at the narrow end to make a curving walk that fits into the existing walk area. The walk is four feet wide except where it goes up to the step up, where it is 5 feet wide to make the new bottom step.

It was hard packing food from the kitchen out to the picnic table area with the very high rough rock steps, so I think this should help.  [ouch]

I was driving the truck around unloading getting ready for work in the morning and the cows heard me so they thought they would come up to the top of the hill to mooch a bit of grain and hay.  I finished unloading the truck and went down to reward them for coming up the hill and guess what.....





The new baby calf arrived.  Looks to be a couple of days old and doing very well.  Daddy seems to watch it quite well too. 

[Redoverfarm]

Congrats on your new arrival.  Just like pennies they will add up in time.  Looks like a little bull calf.  Need to get it banded. Ouch!! He will not mind it now but will object seriously when he gets older.

[glenn kangiser]

Thanks, John.  I thought it was last night but haven't verified it in the day time and I'm not a very good cowboy.....

If it is I will likely have to have Whitlock come over and give me a hand.  How long do I have to get it banded - is there an ideal age range?  I know what comes later.  Helped my uncle with it when I was a kid.  [ouch]

I don't know how much to trust the rest of the cows.... Bossy is a bit uneasy when we are around the calf and she has horns as do the rest of them....

I need a wood corral rather than these sagging wire corrals...

[Redoverfarm]

The jury is still out on that one Glenn.  Some say by the time they are weaned.  Personally I like to when they can be handled easily.  Within the first couple of months.  No fun wrestling a 300-400 # steer.  Some experts    say the longer you wait the faster weight gain will be because of the testosterone output.  Too answer your question I would wait until they develope or in other words "when the berries are in the basket" it's time.  I will give you a site which might help you determine when is the best time.

You need to pick you up a couple of cheap economy gates to have around.  Easy to make a temporary corral with those .  Best place is in a corner near where they congregate and is easier to seperate the cow & calf .  Just attach one end to the fence and swing it to another giving you a triangle to work in and keep Mommy out of your hair.  Probably waiting a little while until she will be less protective helps. 

I am sure someone will lend you a banding pliers and a couple of bands.  They are not expensive it just they come in bigger quanities.  Shoot you can even get one off of new gate pins if you buy the gates.  They put them over the hinge pins to keep them on the gate so they are not lost in transport.  Yep they have more than one purpose.

http://www.castrator.com/eze_bloodless_castrator_questions/studies_band_castrating.htm

[rick91351]

I am never a fan of banding but you could cut (castrate) the little critter in a couple weeks.  Wish I were down that way would do it in about 30 seconds.  He wouldn't even know what happened.  However it is bad fly time right now so banding might be the best. 

[MountainDon]

So is this a jazz band, or a country western band, or maybe some kind of a marching band? 

[rick91351]

MD being so this is a mixed crowd and might give Sassy ideas..............  Might be best I PM you the bull to steer facts of life......  Reminds me ---- Why do they call it a steering wheel.   

[Sassy]

 

[Don_P]

I've been catching up while listening to our 77th old time fiddlers convention on the radio, guitar tonight. There have been some really good pickers and then I heard, well have you ever seen someone who can accurately unload a revolver in one burp? Wayne Henderson entered again  .

Anyway, what caught my eye before all the bull, was the comment about the reflective glass. We have 4 low E casement panes over the porch roof at work. There is an arc of blistered shingles in front of the windows that mirrors the sun's arc. They have gotten pretty good at rejecting heat, but that heat is going somewhere. One of the trade mags showed an arc of melted vinyl siding on a neighbors house from windows on the adjoining house in a blurb recently. We're debating switching to tinted glass but at a grand nobody is looking forward to that experiment.

[glenn kangiser]

Hmm, Mountain Don... do you really want to know about this band..... I believe it will cause the little bull to do a little high steppin' and I don't even want to be around if Sassy figures out how to use it.... [ouch]

I remember that cutting, Rick and KRS and throwing salt in the cut... oh... pain....

A whole bucket full of Rocky Mountain Oysters..... I don't know if elastrators were not invented yet or my uncle always waited too long.

Don P, we were surprised when we found out how hot it was under that reflective glass... we weren't such wimps after all...

Got these 55 columns stood and plumbed Tuesday and Wednesday for a concrete pour ....



Just me and the crane truck and one good Mexican assistant......

That was twice as many as we should have done in the time it took but what the heck... need to let the company make a few bucks after the rough couple of years we have had.  For estimating purposes we would have figured about twice that long.  Sometimes the company can come out on T&M.   They take care of me so I have to take care of them too. 

Some of the smaller columns only weighed 170 lbs so I picked a few of them up and set them by hand.  My helper thought that was something... he said they were heavy for him.  They did seem to get heavier quickly and then it seemed that with two of us setting them together sometimes they were even harder to put up.  Oh well... we made it.

The big truck is down - getting a new clutch for it tomorrow as I am working in the bay area again with my Dodge and welder.  Got it back on the road after a transmission overhaul.  It's always something [ouch]

[Redoverfarm]

Salt.      Ouch!!    We always use a Iron Sulfate powder.  But then again who ever had the sharpest knife won. 

[glenn kangiser]

Yup....I guess uncle Joe used salt to stop the bleeding.... That had to hurt.

About 4 of us would hold that bull down while the operation was performed.  I think de-horning was worse though.  The horn would pop off and that red stream would shoot through the air and you would try not to get hit... or maybe the branding was worse... the smell of burning hair and hide.... it just didn't seem like a pleasant job.. but then... we were men.... we did that sort of thing..   

[glenn kangiser]

Got all of the clutch parts for the crane truck in San Jose yesterday.... [ouch]

Whitlock and I got started taking out the transmission tonight but decided a real transmission jack was in order as that trans looks to be 600 or 800 lbs.

I understand the rental place down the road has one and I don't need to get any transmission on me.....

Mickey mousing an adapter onto the floor jack is a possibility, but if a real one is available it is a better choice.

[glenn kangiser]

OK... got the transmission jack...


...and a Mariposa Hillbilly jack it was too......[ouch]


Whitlock and I set the jack under the transmission - I jacked it up and after fooling with it a bit I thought it may not continue bleeding off if I tightened the release screw tighter than a bull's bum in fly time. [idea]





Did that - got the bolts out of the trans - pulled it back and shortly had a 600lb or so transmission sitting on a jack meant to hold... oh ...let's give it the benefit of the doubt... 125 lbs.

This jack had been well used by some of our best hillbillies and was not in the best shape.  As we worked on getting the clutch, pressure plate and throwout bearing out, this piece of sh .....junk slowly bled off.. so I threw a piece of wood into its scissors area to hold it while we worked.  Soon Whitlock and I were covered with grease and some carbon black substance which proved to be nearly impossible to remove even with the harshest pumice/orange hand cleaner when it became necessary for me to head to the little boys room and think for a while. 

The more I tried to get it off with hand cleaner and water the farther it spread, until soon I had my t-shirt off and it was black clear around to the back of my armpits.... not to mention the raccoon look of the face which I simply ignored.  I told Whitlock he looked like the McKinsey brothers in "Strange Brew" when they were getting booked at the police station and were sticking black thumb prints over each others faces.

Soon enough it was time to put it back in and we started trying to get the  "Transmission Jack" working.  It was leaking off so I jacked it up and pulled the block of wood out of it.  Trying to adjust the angle with the adjusting screw soon got the stupid jack plate to fall over about 30 degrees toward Whitlock along with the 600 lb transmission. (When done I found out that the nut that angles the plate when you adjust it was not self locking and had unscrewed off of the end).  Waiting for the 600 lb monster trans to fall any moment we got two more floor jacks and tried to prop the trans back up on top of the hillbilly wonder jack. That worked with limited shaky success.

After an hour or two of shoving this thing around and readjusting the input splines thinking there was no way it would go, we made a couple more adjustments thinking it might be close to going in.  Still it wouldn't.  Whitlock gave a shove... I was sure the transmission was going to fall but instead... it went into the splines.  I pushed and adjusted a bit more and it went farther.

Whitlock barred the jack.  We pushed shoved and adjusted until we were finally able to pull it into place. 

By about 10 pm... my list of expletives completely exhausted... we had most of it done.  Still have to adjust the free play and grease it but that should be about it.  Next comes the road test.... a relief....